TumbleDweeeb

Emmitt Owens

June 2025

  • From Creative Gurus to Complicated Ancestors

    List three books that have had an impact on you. Why? šŸ˜ … I’ve been diving back into Austin Kleon’s books again, Steal Like an Artist & Show Your Work. I’ve probably read these several times over the last few years, but they keep having an impact each time I come back to them. Austin’s… Read more

  • Chill n’Fill #58 (Book 2, Episode 27)

    Another Night at Chill n’Fill: Love, Loss, and Labor    It was Friday night at Chill n’Fill, out here where the darkness stretched for miles in every direction and our mechanically-winking polar bear served as the only beacon of civilization for truckers, night shift workers, and the occasional lost soul who’d wandered too far from… Read more

  • Mirror, Mirror

    Mirror, Mirror Don’t ever look at their workspaceā€”Ā Ā  Shows you too much process or not enough mess,Ā Ā Ā Ā  Or worse, in every way, the wrong kind of chaos.Ā  Every draft, every revisionā€”Ā Ā Ā  Every crumpled page, every saved_fileā€”Ā  Breath, tempo, conviction, the way they pause.Ā Ā Ā  These are all the things you either desperately study,Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  Or pretend not… Read more

  • My Fire, Not Yours

    What fears have you overcome and how? šŸ˜ … For many years I’ve worried about what others thought, and I installed dampers on my “art” projects because for some reason I offend people very easily. It’s kind of been that way all my life … it’s either I offend them or I, care too much… Read more

  • Chill n’Fill #57 (Book 2, Episode 26)

    The Secret Life of Chill n’Fill: After Hours    It was 2:47 AM on a Tuesday, that dead hour when the highway fell silent and the fluorescent lights hummed their loneliest tune. Out here in rural Alabama, 12 miles from the nearest town and surrounded by nothing but pine trees and darkness, I’d just finished… Read more

  • Why I’m Asleep When You’re Awake (And Awake When You’re Asleep)

    Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life. šŸ˜³ … This is going to sound ridiculous, but the thing that brings the most joy to my daily life is getting up at 2am every morning to drink my coffee and wander around my blogs aimlessly. There’s something about starting with a… Read more

  • Chill n’Fill #60 (Book 2, Episode 30)

    Dating Dilemmas, Critical Blogs, and Bear Conspiracies    Friday night at Chill n’Fill was shaping up to be one of those evenings where people seemed compelled to share their deepest existential crises with whoever happened to be working the register. Behind me, tonight’s painting had materialized as Caspar David Friedrich’s “Wanderer above the Sea of… Read more